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[LUG] To host or local: Mail server, groupware

 

Hi All

I have been looking at setting up a mail and groupware server. I have
been asking questions on a ubuntu list but as the answers are moving
away from ubuntu I thought I might ask questions here.

So to explain. I have just started to manage the companies IT
structure and it is totally disorganised. We have a user whose laptop
needs repairing but I can't do it during the day because she needs it.
So I suggested she uses a different machine whilst I repair it but she
has lots of stuff personal to her job on it. Things like bookmarks,
email, files, etc. But we have servers why doesn't she use them... So
a list of needs:
1. File server (this will be hosted locally)
2. Mail server - this would collect all mail and then redistribute it
to the staff. They all have personal email addresses (i.e. john@....)
3. A central place to host company bookmarks
4. A central address books that contain tags and categories for ease of use
5. A central calendar
6. A way to send notes to staff
7. A web server to serve an intranet

This answers the question but we are also looking at:
8. Replacing Sage
9. Replacing MS Office (not so easy at the moment because they do a
lot of access calculations in conjunction with Sage!)
10. Installing a crm

For me the urgency is to migrate users away from having data stored on
their own machines so they can simply shift to a new computer if a
repair is needed!

Firstly, how do mail servers run please? Is it possible to host it
locally where we pull all the mail to a machine which the users then
connect to to collect mail? Is this a better service performed online?
They have a web hosting package but the hosting agents don't want to
host mail. Is it possible to separate the two then?

Secondly, it has been suggested I try this distro:
<http://wiki.contribs.org/Main_Page>
What do you think? Is it better to get an all in one package or add
packages to a distro?

Thanks for all the help.
-- 
Kind regards
Rich
http://www.cregy.co.uk
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Romans 12 v 1

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